South Bay : Residents Mobilize to Prevent Port Police From Sinking

In an era when police-community relations are often marred by distrust, some residents of Wilmington have a different perspective: They feel so fiercely loyal about their police force that they’re mobilizing in hopes of saving it.

Stirring their fears are reports that the Los Angeles Port Police Department might be reorganized or even dismantled. That has some so riled up in this Los Angeles community that they are organizing a rally for Thursday at noon at 6th Street and Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro.

“The Port Police have been the ones who have made us feel so much safer in the streets,” said Marge O’Brien, president of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.

The little-known Port Police tickets speeding boaters, deals with truck hijackings and car thefts, and even sleuths underwater to inspect freighter hulls for smuggled drugs.

Now, the 61-officer force is being scrutinized as part of streamlining at the Los Angeles Harbor Department, where officials insist that no decision has been made to eliminate the force.